What's Important
by Dragonachu
Summary: A huge storm hits True Cross Academy and though Rin goes to Cram School like he's supposed to, he's a little disturbed to see that Shiemi is absent. When circumstances get tough you realise what's really important, and that it can make you do amazing things you didn't even know you were capable of. [Rin x Shiemi]


Thank you all so much for the positive reviews on my first Blue Exorcist fic, I really appreciated all the great feedback!

Just more RinShi drabbles. Totally plotless, but hopefully fluff aplenty. (So much fluff! /dies) Also this is set after the end of the anime storyline - so mild spoilers for that.  
>This idea wouldn't leave my mind. It's a little inspired by Fruits Basket episode 3.<p>

Pairing: Rin x Shiemi (RinShi)  
><span>Anime<span>:Blue Exorcist  
><span>Drabbles<span>

Disclaimer: I do not own Blue Exorcist.

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><p><span>What's Important<span>

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Even the cram school couldn't escape the sounds of the fierce weather trying to force itself inside - it sounded like a monster; roaring through pipes, whistling down corridors and rattling doors on their hinges. The storm had been raging for a couple of hours, and showed no sign of letting up, so for once most of the students were glad to be in class. The cram student number had vastly increased since the incident with Satan a couple of months before, and the class room was buzzing with the sound of chatter over the wind and rain.

The door swung open and the conversation stopped immediately with the entrance of teacher, and Exorcist, Yukio Okumura, moving with purpose and coming to a stop at the front desk. He placed a briefcase lightly on the desk, and drew out a thick book, faded and shabby with age.

"Okay class, today we'll be looking at the extended history of medicines and pharmaceuticals in the practices of Exorcism," Yukio paused briefly at the collective groan from the students, "which will be important to pay attention to if you want any chance of doing well on the test next week." An even loader groan followed and Yukio adjusted his glasses to get silence. "So, starting from page 1, we-"

"Hey wait, where's Shiemi?" Rin's voice cut across his twin's. Despite the amount of other True Cross Academy students joining the Cram School, Rin and Shiemi continued to sit in their usual places at the front of the class, but the chair next to him was curiously empty. Shiemi was diligent in her attendance since she had become even more determined to become a fully trained Exorcist, so it was strange to see her absent. Yukio took a deep breath.

"Haven't you seen the weather? It could easily destroy a garden like Shiemi's, so she always stays at the shop to protect it in conditions like these. Now as I was saying-"

"What! All by herself?! Shouldn't we go help or something?" Rin couldn't help but think of small Shiemi struggling against the wind and rain alone, trying to protect the garden she loved so much. He couldn't understand how Yukio could not want to help.

"Shiemi has been doing this for years Rin, she'll be fine. Now if you'll sit down and stop interrupting, we can begin." Yukio could barely disguise the irritation in his voice at his twin's lack of respect for his role as teacher, despite their dynamic having been the same since day one at the school. The other students were used to these kinds of arguments between the Okumura brothers. It wasn't that Yukio didn't care, but he knew he had a duty to the Cram School, so he just had to be confident that Shiemi would know what she was doing. For a second it looked like Rin was going to settle back down but instead he grabbed his things, readjusted the Koma Sword on his shoulder and strode out of the classroom.

"I can't just sit here while she's out in this." He muttered as he left. Yukio watched the door slam behind his older brother, ignoring the loud exclamations of the other Ex-wires.

"Seriously, sometimes I don't even know why he turns up at all! Even after all this time his carefree attitude to attendance just pisses me off!"

"Bon, you know what he's like when it comes to Miss Moriyama."

"Heh... I'd run into the rain for Izumo."

"Ugh, and I'd run _away_ from you!"

Yukio took a deep steadying breath.

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As soon as Rin stepped outside he knew he'd made the right decision; the wind was blowing furiously and changing directions without notice, while the rain fell in sheets so thick it was difficult to see through. He'd been able to do most of the journey inside True Cross Academy, but the Supply Shop where Shiemi lived was high up on its own platform, connected to the rest of the island by a long bridge, and as he took a step out into the raging weather to cross it he was suddenly regretting not taking Yukio's key with him to lead him straight there. Bracing an arm above his eyes, so he could shield them from the worse of the rain, Rin sped off over the bridge. His clothes were instantly soaked through, the blazer doing very little to keep the water from his skin beneath, and his hair was ruffled violently in all directions by the gales. The rain was so intense that for the few minutes it took Rin to race across the bridge, all he could hear was the water crashing over everything and the sound of his shoes splashing as they pounded the concrete.

Finally Rin neared the shop and his steps slowed. He wasn't too sure why it was so important to go and help. What _know-it-all-four-eyes_ had said was true really, he thought reluctantly, if she had been doing it for years there was no real reason to believe she'd be struggling now and would even need his help at all. But he just couldn't have stayed in that classroom doing lessons without her next to him, not hearing her pen scratching furiously at her note taking and not seeing her smiling encouragingly after class ended. Thinking of her alone in that garden was hard.

"Shiemi!" Rin called through the wind as he approached the black gate bordering her garden. One of the doors was still missing from its position in the gate, and Rin stepped through the gap he had unwittingly made the first time he had visited. That day when he'd seen Shiemi sitting amongst the flowers with such a serene and caring expression, he couldn't stop himself from subconsciously reaching out toward her, and the demon warding gate had reacted to his touch. She had screamed and called him a demon then, but ultimately she'd been the first one to really accept his demonic blood - accept him for who he was.

The scene before him was markedly different from that first day; huge black and purple clouds obscured the sun, casting everything in dark shadows and most of the flowerbeds were covered over by large sheets of tarpaulin. The sheets were being held in place by a series of pegs hammered into the ground, with ropes wound tight around them and through the tarpaulin. Rin looked over at the strange coverings and realised one was standing upright in the middle of the garden. At first he was confused, but then two pink hands appeared at the top of the sheet and Rin realised the wind was blowing it straight into Shiemi's body making it look like it was standing upright on its own. He was about to call her name when she pulled the tarpaulin down so her face and shoulders were visible; her hair was plastered to her face with the rain and her cheeks were glowing pink with the cold, but she still wore an expression of determination that suddenly made Rin wonder if the wind had stolen his breath or she had.

"Oh, Rin!" Shiemi squeaked in shock, looking up and seeing him standing there. Her lapse in concentration loosened her grip and the tarpaulin flew up into her face again. In seconds Rin was in front of her, holding the sheet away from her and the pink on her cheeks intensified at his sudden appearance. "W-what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? I'm here to help!" Rin grinned widely, his demonic fangs offset by his earnest expression, and Shiemi couldn't help but smile back.

"You shouldn't be skipping class for me!" She said knowing full well that it was just the sort of thing Rin would do. "What about Yuki?"

"Oh don't worry about him, he'll get over it," he paused, "once he's kicked my ass for getting up and leaving." Shiemi looked flustered at this, but Rin only laughed. Yes, he'd made the right decision. He smiled down at her conflicted expression; her green eyes glad to see him, but her mouth pinched in a guilty pout. The moment stretched out a little too long, with Rin suddenly becoming uncomfortably aware that he was standing extremely close to Shiemi, with only a sheet of tarpaulin keeping them apart. Shiemi sneezed softly and the sound snapped him back to their wet and windy situation, and he took a quick embarrassed step backwards. Letting go of the sheet.

"Eek!"

"Agh, sorry!"

Once Rin had pulled the sheet from her face again, she had instructed him to help her cover the flower beds with it, attaching it to the pegs nearby. The rushing wind made it very difficult to move the sheets around without them flying away or flapping too much to get them flat on the ground, so it was a hard task for two let alone just the young tamer, but instead of being discouraged Shiemi simply wiped some rain from her eyes, and pushed back some of the hair that had got stuck to her forehead. Tying it down with the rope and pegs was difficult; the rain made the rope slick and the pegs were not able to stay rigid in the boggy mud, and Rin wondered how long it had taken to place the few sheets that were already down.

The task was much easier shared and soon the final tarpaulin was stretched over some delicate looking white flowers, though they hadn't fully escaped the extreme weather, and petals lay scattered upon the soft ground. Shiemi only hoped they had been quick enough to save most of the garden.

Finally the small Ex-Wire looked over her covered garden fondly.

"Thank you so much Rin, I would never have been done this as quickly without you!" Shiemi turned to face him, dripping wet and windswept, though she knew she must look no better, to grip one of his hands in her own and Rin's tail shot up in surprise behind him. "I mean it, I don't know how I'd have coped without you, thank yo- achoo!" She couldn't stop the violent sneeze, and tore her hands away to cover her nose in embarrassment.

"C'mon, let's get out of the rain." Rin said with a good natured grin, and Shiemi nodded in agreement. She quickly led the way to the small building her grandmother used to live in, at one end of the garden. The two entered the dry building gratefully and Rin shut out the rain and wind behind them with a happy sigh. Although now safe from the weather, they were both trailing pools of water on the floor wherever they stepped from the water still cascading down from their soaked clothes and hair. Shiemi's kimono was incredibly muddy at the bottom and at the ends of her long sleeves, and she even had some mud spots splattered across the torso, while Rin's white shirt was similarly spotted with brown dirt. It was almost laughable to see what state they were in, and they both smiled as if sharing the same thought.

After a small pause Shiemi picked up a large candle and lit it with some nearby matches, remembering that the building didn't have any electricity, or heating.

"Oh, it's not really much warmer in here than it is outside is it? Hm, there's not much in here at all since I moved back to the house. There might be some old towels in here somewhere for you to get dry. Or anything clean and dry to use," She paused, suddenly getting flustered, "oh but, I don't have anything for you to wear!"

"Hey, don't worry about me! I'll dry off. But what about you? I bet there's something of yours left in this place right?" Rin had a quick glance around the dark empty space feeling doubtful. Shiemi shook her head and moved towards the window overlooking the garden.

"No, I'm going to stay right here to make sure none of the coverings come off. I don't want all our hard work to go to waste if one of them is blown away!" She spoke with the total conviction he knew she wouldn't be swayed from.

"Are you crazy! You'll get sick if you stay like that!" But he had to try anyway. She just smiled and turned back to the glass.

"I'll make sure the flowers are okay. Not because I have to or because I'm a slave to the garden, but because I want to. This garden is part of my home, and we've helped to defend it together, so I don't want anything to happen to it." Shiemi's voice was gentle, and she continued to look out of the window as she spoke. Rin half growled in his sigh of frustration at her stubbornness, and ran a hand through his wet hair.

Shiemi heard him moving around the room and assumed he was looking for something dry, so she was surprised when he came back to her holding the candle between them. He offered it to her and she wordlessly took it out of his hands. Rin had kept his eyes from making contact with her own while he did this, but she kept her green ones on his.

"I'm going to try something out that I've been practicing, so don't get scared. I don't even know if this will work, but gotta try right?" Rin's tone was unusually serious, though he tried to put some positivity into the end. Finally his eyes connected with hers as he blew the flame out on the candle. At first Shiemi wanted to ask him what was going on, but she remembered what he had said - and she trusted him. A heartbeat went by and nothing happened but then she felt Rin's hands close over her own around the candle, and again she had to remind herself that she trusted whatever it was that he was doing. The only sound was the rain outside, drumming against the roof and walls of the small building and their own breathing, and Shiemi waited patiently. The wick suddenly sparked blue but went dim again and Rin's hands squeezed tighter over the young tamer's until the wick sparked blue once more and a small blue flame flickered into life.

Shiemi let out a gasp and looked up at the demon, who's eyes were shut in concentration, as wonderment and fascination lighting up her features watching the flame grow and grow until it was completely covering both the candle and their hands. The candle was completely unaffected by the covering of blue fire, but she could feel its warmth around her hands and wrists as the flame continued growing around the connected Ex-Wires. Rin's tail swayed rhythmically behind him as he concentrated, willing the flames to do his bidding, and slowly they were both surrounded in blue fire. Shiemi revelled in its heat after the chill of outside, realising that not only was it warming her up, but her clothes and her hair were drying too.

Finally the flame receded and shrank until it was just a normal size, burning blue at the end of the candle's wick. Rin let out a breath he hadn't even realised he'd been holding and lit up in excitement over their now dry clothing.

"Yeah! It worked! Aha, I knew I could do it if I wanted to! I willed those flames to burn off the water and they did, man Yukio will be so stoked when he hears about it." Rin's excitement made him speak quickly and loudly, breaking any kind of tension there had been in the room previously and Shiemi laughed in response. Her green eyes sparkled in the light given off by the little blue flame.

"I knew you could. They're you too, Rin. And you can do anything you set your mind to." Her soft voice, full of admiration, made him come over embarrassed again and he went to remove his hands until Shiemi intertwined their fingers together, locking them in place against the wax. "Let's just stay like this until the rain stops, okay?"

"... Sure."


End file.
